1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a refrigerant compressor for a car air conditioner, and more particularly, it relates to a car air conditioner provided with a hydraulically driven refrigerant compressor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Car air conditioners use a refrigerant compressor for compressing a refrigerant gas to be delivered to a refrigerating circuit including a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator. A conventional refrigerant compressor for a car air conditioner, such as a vane type compressor, a rotary swash plate type compressor, a wobble plate type compressor and a scroll type compressor, is arranged to be driven by a rotary drive force directly transmitted from a car engine via a solenoid clutch. Namely, when the solenoid clutch is electromagnetically engaged, the rotary drive force of the car engine is directly transmitted to the refrigerant compressor to rotate a drive shaft thereof, to thereby operate a compressing mechanism of the compressor. For example, in the conventional rotary swash plate type compressor, a drive shaft rotates a swash plate when driven, and therefore, the rotated swash plate causes a reciprocatory motion of a plurality of pistons in the compression chambers, and therefore, a refrigerant gas is pumped into the compression chambers to be compressed therein and discharged therefrom after compression.
In the conventional car air conditioner using the conventional refrigerant compressor directly driven by a car engine, however, a transmission mechanism including pulleys, belts and the above-mentioned solenoid clutch is arranged between the car engine and the drive shaft of the compressor to effect the transmission of a drive force of the car engine to the drive shaft of the compressor. Accordingly, the compressor must be located at only a predetermined position in an engine compartment, at which it can be most suitably connected to the car engine via the transmission mechanism, and this often makes it difficult to selectively install the refrigerant. compressor at a position within the engine compartment suitable for isolating a car compartment from an irritating noise produced by the compressor during the operation thereof. Consequently, a person or persons in the car compartment may suffer from this noise, which will detract from their enjoyment of and the comfort given by the car air conditioner.